Bitcoin Blog a1

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Bitcoin Bill?

Marc K. Roberts of the Utah House of Representatives may be a bitcoin advocate!

I noticed on the internet that in Mr. Roberts has proposed a bill on… bitcoins! Wow! I may have implied in my first post that Utah, where I now live) perhaps isn’t the most interesting place in the world, but this this seems to disprove that! ( at least to a certain extent).

As I began to read the bill I noticed while it was written in English, it seems to use words and phrases differently than one might expect. I looked further online to see that there is certain wordage used for effective resolution making. The site I used asserts this as governance 101. I will reference this site again as it gives clarification.

One on the reasons cited for the adoption of bitcoin as a form of payment is that “... the state could be a key player in promoting the use of bitcoin.” Here below is that statement with more context:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, and

43 the Governor concurring therein, recognizes the potential benefits that could come from the

44 expanded use of bitcoin in the state and recognizes that the state could be a key player in

45 promoting the use of bitcoin.

(Emphasis added)

To clarify, the all capital letters preceding some sentences are identifiers. The previously mentioned site explains The THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED statement:

This is the punchline. It is the action being taken. You should state EXACTLY what is to be voted upon….

THEREFORE, it would seem that Mr. Roberts is saying that one of the two primary reasons the state should adopt bitcoin is to further its acceptance. I also found some of his reasoning interesting, mainly his statements “ the state must remain open to new technologies” and “bitcoin is based on the principles of free-market capitalism and is not centrally regulated.”

While this is a very interesting position, I think there are also some huge ramifications from this decision, and should it be excepted, I think there may be some constitutional issues, but that is an article for another day, stay tuned!